Monday night’s Supervisor’s forum organized by the Amador Citizens for Responsible Government group went relatively well, despite some setbacks. At the start of the forum, hosting group president Vince De Stigter informed the packed chamber audience that a sudden blood clot had required district 1 candidate John Gonsalves be admitted to the hospital. Gonsalves is said to be recovering rapidly, and he wrote a formal statement regretting his absence from the event. Jack Mitchell, Publisher of the Amador Ledger Dispatch and scheduled moderator for the event, also showed up late due to car trouble. However, once the proceedings were underway, the four candidates fielded questions in random order as selected by Mitchell. Question topics ranged from the proposed Buena Vista Casino to economic growth. The forum functioned as planned. TSPN will be hosting its own candidate’s forum with our Let’s Talk host, Larry Cenotto. Our forum will be split between two programs. Keep your eye on the ticker at the bottom of your screen, or check out our website for scheduling information. 

Another packed chamber at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting symbolized the importance of a reoccurring item on the agenda- the proposed Amador Economic Stimulus Package. A host of local contractors and realtors showed up to voice their support for contractor Paul Bramell’s proposed plan to temporarily cut impact and development fees in order to stimulate growth in the sinking housing market. “I sat down with a committee and we developed this new proposal,” said Bramell, referring to a meeting the day before with County Administrative Officer Teri Daly and other local representatives. “I believe we came up with a pretty comprehensive plan that will still stimulate the local economy,” he said.

The new, revised stimulus plan he refers to would allow a reduction in impact fees for local and regional traffic mitigation, recreation and capital facilities between July 1st, 2008 and December 31st, 2009. This includes a 100 percent reduction in fees until December 31st, 2008, a 50 percent reduction from then until June 30th, 2009, and a 25 percent reduction from then until December 31st, 2009. Considering the makeup of the audience, many were surprised by the mixed opinions voiced by public speakers. “Reducing impact fees, it’s just going to dig us a deeper hole. If less money is spent, you’re going to have just as big of a deficit,” said resident Bill Condershoff. “We don’t have any guarantees to what degree this will stimulate the economy, but I do think it will create work and employment,” said another resident, John Wheets. All the Board members expressed different opinions on the proposal. It was decided that the best course of action would be to continue discussions and consider it again at next week’s meeting.

The ongoing battle over a request for a liquor license at a Pioneer store came to a close at the tail end of Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting. Danny McCauley, owner of Liquor and More and property manager of Sierra Homes and Properties, stressed to the council that his sole intention in opening up another liquor store in Pioneer is to stimulate the economy. “It would not have been me, it would have been Buckhorn residents who work in the liquor store,” he said. The proposed store site, located in the BuckhornPlaza, was left empty when Buckhorn Liquors moved to the Buckhorn Village a few hundred yards away.

McCauley decided to lease the space for his new store, and started renovating the interior, which is now nearly complete. After McCauley filed with the California Department of Alcohol and Beverage Control, or ABC, he received copies of numerous complaint letters sent to the state from local residents. Opponents to the store felt it was unnecessary to have yet another liquor store in Amador County with the many current liquor vendors in the area. The vote before the Board was whether or not to approve a letter of public convenience or necessity to satisfy the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control’s requirements for an off-sale liquor license. The Board voted 3 against and 1 for. Supervisor Boitano was the sole Supervisor who approved, while Supervisor Escamilla abstained due to a potential conflict of interest. “I called people who were openly opposed and told them no hard feelings. I think the Board of Supervisors should be commended for all their efforts,” said McCauley. He is now debating his two current options, to close in escrow, or to move his license to another county.

Shoppers in historic downtown Jackson won’t have to pay for parking this summer.  As part of the downtown stimulus program for the City of Jackson, the city council voted unanimously to cover the downtown area parking meters and provide free parking from Memorial Day through Labor Day.  The move comes from a joint effort between the city and the Economic Development Committee to revitalize Downtown Jackson.  This summer, the city will place bags over the meters on Main Street from the Bookstore to the National Hotel, a stretch that includes about 52 parking meters.  Several members of the city council spoke of comments and complaints from tourists and locals who had received parking tickets after spending considerable amounts of money in downtown shops. The city and committee hope to stimulate the economy by providing free parking, and will advertise in order to get the word out.  Although parking will be free this summer, the 3 hour time limit still applies, and parking officers will be tracking time by marking tires. The committee also considered phasing out the parking meters altogether, installing diagonal parking, and making Main Street a one-way street. Some members of the public were opposed to removing the meters, citing the high cost involved in purchasing and installing the meters.  Thornton Consolo of Jackson feels that having an officer patrol Main Street marking tires is “five times more labor intensive” than simply writing tickets for expired meters.  Consolo also made reference to the lost revenue from the meters, as well as from parking citations.  Vice Mayor Connie Gonsalves replied that the 2007 net revenue amounted to 7,355 dollars, implying that the potential revenue loss over the summer would be less than that.  Regardless of the loss in revenue, one local shopkeeper says the free parking will be “wonderful” for downtown.

Local Businessman Stan Lukowicz was awarded the Amador District Boy Scouts of America’s highest award- the District Award of Merit, at the American Legion Hall in Sutter Creek. Stan is a long time resident of Amador County and is involved in many community and civic organizations. He said that for him, scouting made all the difference as a poor young man growing up in South Texas. This award is the highest honor that can be awarded at the local District level. Many local Boy Scout leaders from the Amador Community were in attendance. Also awarded the District Award of Merit was Lou Stewart. Lou lives in Ione and is a long time scout leader. The Amador Cub Scout of the Year was awarded to Owen Fritz of Jackson Cub Pack 78,and two Boy Scouts of the Year awards went to Patrick Lindecker of Pioneer Troop 888 and Jason McCleery of Sutter Creek Venture Crew 63. The Amador District Boy Scouts of America seeks to build strong, dedicated young people by offering a program that focuses on citizenship and ethics, combined with a great outdoors experience. For more information on these programs Call Jim Duncan 274-2980 or Tom Harris 295-2343.

Amador County came up short when state prison officials announced their distribution priorities for new jail funding on Thursday, May 8. According to the Amador County Sheriff’s Office, it was a “great disappointment” to hear that in the small county category, Amador placed seventh on a priority list of ten behind Yolo, Kings, Madera, Calaveras, Tuolumne and Shasta.In other words, any counties ranking below fourth were not recommended to receive funding. Fourth place Calaveras County scraped the bottom of the funding list and received the remaining ten million after the lion’s share was distributed amongst the top three. The top three qualifying counties were recommended to receive 30 million each. “This was a huge disappointment,” said Sheriff Martin Ryan.

The two counties had partnered up with San Joaquin County to provide a regional re-entry facility for returning inmates, a key component of the prison-reform legislation that authorized state funds to expand county jails. In a TSPN interview exclusive, Sheriff Ryan described the current local jail as “chronically overcrowded.” Amador County’s request includes plans to expand the current 75 bed jail to 165. On the day of our interview, Ryan said they were currently holding 21 females in an 11 bed space, and that the jail typically runs 10 to 15 percent over capacity. Amador County has seen a 118% increase in inmates since 2002, most of whom are parole violators. Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Secretary James Tilton made it clear at the meeting that this would not be the final grant decision. During the next 90 days, the Corrections Department will review all applicant counties that have complied with grant approval requirements. Sheriff Ryan says the fight for funding is far from over.

The Plymouth City Council heard from Matthew Franklin, chairman of the Ione Band of Miwok Indians, during the public comment portion of their agenda at Thursday’s meeting. Franklin requested a government to government meeting between the City Council and Tribal Government, and also invited them to the Tribe’s General Meeting on Saturday, May 10th at the County Fairgrounds. Across California, tribes are entering into compacts with the Governor regarding tribal gaming.  As a result, the income from the casinos is no longer going to the surrounding city but to the state and the county. Franklin asked “who then is going to protect Plymouth? At the capitol we were met with open arms…in Plymouth the tribe has been pushed away continually.” Gary Colburn, a resident of Plymouth, reminded the council that in his opinion they “were elected to represent and protect the citizens of Plymouth, and, with the current situation underway, Plymouth is left completely unprotected.” Maria Nunez-Simon also commented, saying that “people are coming in and offering assistance, and the council keeps denying it” and asked the council “to give respect to the tribe. If the Governor and Senators are listening, why aren’t you?” Direction was given to staff to bring back the item as a regularly scheduled agenda item in a future meeting.

The Putnam Ranch property was also discussed at the meeting Thursday evening, with David Wade representing the Ranch proponents. The ranch is approximately 645 acres, and is currently being used as a private residence. However, with the General Plan currently undergoing an update, Wade feels that now is the most advantageous time to discuss future planning processes. “The development is not for today, it’s probably not for at least another ten plus years” said Wade. “The General Plan is being updated so this is the ideal time to come before the council and commission.” The number of units that could be built on the land would total 998 units, under the current open space requirements. The actual number of units estimated to be built would be closer to 700.

The first survey of bee health this year revealed a grim picture, with 36.1 percent of the nation's commercially managed hives collapsing - a 13.5 percent increase over 2007. As beekeepers travel with their hives this spring to pollinate crops around the country, it's clear the bees themselves are buckling under the weight of new diseases, pesticide drift and old enemies like the parasitic varroa mite, said Dennis vanEngelsdorp, president of the Apiary Inspectors of America, which commissioned the survey released Tuesday. This is the second year the association has measured colony deaths across the country. This means there aren't enough numbers to show a trend, but clearly bees are dying at unsustainable levels and the situation is not improving, said vanEngelsdorp, also a bee expert with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. "For two years in a row, we've sustained a substantial loss," he said. "That's an astonishing number. Imagine if one out of every three cows, or one out of every three chickens, were dying. That would raise a lot of alarm."

The survey included 327 operators, or 19 percent of the country's approximately 2.44 million commercially managed bee hives. The data is being prepared for submission to a journal. Most of the bee deaths - 71 percent - were not due to Colony Collapse Disorder, a mysterious disease that causes adult bees to abandon their hives. But when hives show symptoms of the ailment - when bees completely abandon a hive that otherwise looked healthy - a large percentage of a keeper's hives are wiped out. Bee operations that noticed these symptoms had a total loss of 41.3 percent of their colonies. Beekeepers who did not find signs of colony collapse lost an average of 17.5 percent of their hives. This combination of factors highlights the need for more research, not only into CCD, but into pollinator health in general, said vanEngelsdorp. On Tuesday, Pennsylvania's Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff announced that the state would pour an additional $20,400 into research at Pennsylvania State University causes of Colony Collapse Disorder. This raises emergency funds dedicated to investigating the disease to $86,000. looking for the

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday said pressure from the auto industry will not deter California from attempting to impose strict emission rules for vehicles sold in the state. The Republican governor met privately with seven auto executives who requested the get-together. In an interview afterward, he said he told them "the train has left the station" and that they should stop challenging California rules that are intended to help slow the rate of global warming. "I said, 'While you're whining, you should be creating new technologies. That's how you meet the date," Schwarzenegger told The Associated Press after meeting with members of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.

The trade group is pushing back against California rules designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They are part of the state's wider effort to address global warming. California wants emissions to be cut by nearly a third for all vehicles sold in the state by 2016. That's four years earlier than similar emission rules proposed by the federal government. Auto manufacturers say the California benchmark can't be met on time and that they have successfully blocked them from taking effect. It was the first time Schwarzenegger and auto executives have met after years of being at odds over California's tailpipe rules. While neither side made any concessions Thursday, they agreed to work together on alternative ways automakers might help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.